Chapter 20: Grateful Party
The grateful party has been going on since 6 o'clock pm and it was now nearing 8 o'clock, everyone seemed to be there except for 3 international guests that were supposed to be there already. All the guests that didn't know previously about Kyoko's leave were told by President Lory that Kyoko took the opportunity to go to America to be with her parental figures as well as make herself known internationally. Which she has successfully done through her modeling, acting in commercials, acting guest star in a few crime TV shows as well as her roles in a few movies that ended filming earlier that month.
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Ren was wearing a nice white tux standing off to the side wondering where his parents were as there was no news about their whereabouts but he did overhear other guests mentioning that there was 3 international stars that were to attend the party. He knew that 2 of the 3 were his parents but deep down he was wondering who the third one would be but he was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard the President calling for everyone's attention.
"Everyone the final 3 guests have arrived please clear a row for them." The guests cleared a row down the center that went from the door to where Lory was standing with Maria beside him looking excited, then Lory looks at Ren to indicate for him to come stand at his other side which Ren complies knowing it was because his parents were coming in.
Just then the doors open and a couple walk in both with blonde hair, the lady was in a long strapless red dress with rhinestones at the top of the dress and her companion was in a black tux with a red rose in the jacket pocket. As they enter the room a young lady follows them in, she was just a few inches shorter than the other lady but she has chestnut colored hair that just went a little past her shoulders, the mature young lady was wearing a long dark purple dress that had a slit on one side at the bottom that went up to just below her knee to expose some of her long legs, and on the top of the dress it had a frilly rose design that framed it with a necklace around her neck that had a pink jewel in the middle.
As the 3 walk down the cleared path the people bow to them and get a glimpse of the young woman's burning amber eyes which a few people recognized and knew who exactly she was. When they arrived at the front Lory was smiling to see how much Kyoko had matured.
"Welcome my friends, and thank you for coming." Lory says then sees Maria fidgeting beside him knowing she saw Kyoko.
Kuu smiles, "It's our pleasure Boss, we couldn't keep our princess to ourselves any longer." He then smirks as he and Julie step aside as Kyoko walks forward in between them.
Ren looks at the woman that stepped out from behind his parents, he was shocked to see who she was and how she matured in those 4 months but doesn't say a word.
Lory can feel the man at his left stiffen from recognising the girl. This made him want to laugh but doesn't. Looking at the beautiful young lady in front of him, "Well Mogami-kun, it's been a while and you look stunning." Lory says.
Kyoko bows, "Thank you, Boss."
"You will definitely become the most desirable woman as you're already known internationally." Lory notices the man to his left flinch guessing that Ren didn't clue in that she was the third international star that was attending the party. "Well I would like to talk to you in a few days, but until then enjoy yourself." Lory says then nudges Ren to give him the hint to go to his girl and Maria moves from beside Lory to Kyoko and hugs her tight as she was happy that she came to her birthday and was safe.
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The party resumed as a few came to talk with the Hizuri couple and a few took the chance to talk to Kyoko but once those talks subsided, Kyoko was standing by the wall watching her parents and other guests dancing also she saw Maria dancing with Lory which made her smile but deep down she was thinking about something.
"I am happy that I am back home but I still can't get myself to talk to him…I might be almost at the same level as him but no matter I was only his Kohai that's all I ever was and ever will be even if I have feelings for him…and he can't have any feelings for me." Kyoko thought to herself but then looks up from her thoughts to see the man she was thinking about standing in front of her.
"It's nice to see you again Mogami-san, you look lovely tonight." Ren says trying to keep the urges to want to hold her close and kiss her under control.
Kyoko smiles, "Well thank you Tsuruga-san, you look handsome in that white tux."
Ren smiles as well, "Thank you." He holds his hand out to her, "May I have a dance with the most desirable woman?"
Kyoko blushes slightly, "Tsuruga-san I am not the most desirable anything but you may." It took some courage to put her hand in his but over those 4 months she had gained more courage and self-confidence.
"Well you will be as you're already an international star, it will only take you one movie here to take the most desirable position beside me." Ren says leading her to the dance floor.
Kyoko blushes a little more, "Tsuruga-san I would never be able to stay on the same level as you…" Kyoko says as her heart clenches as she always wanted to be his equal.
Ren sighs as they get to the dance floor, he puts his arm around her waist and pulls her close to him as her free hand automatically goes to his shoulder. Ren leans his head down to whisper in her ear, "You are already on the same level as me and if you wouldn't mind just call me Ren…Ok Kyoko."
Kyoko heard him speak into her ear which made her heart flutter. She smiles and nods as if he couldn't love her she still wanted to be by his side and be his friend.
With that Ren smiles and holds the girl he loves as they begin to dance and the people who were dancing were eyeing the new dancing couple.
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On the side of the dance floor 3 people were watching Kyoko and Ren dancing.
Kuu looks at Lory, "So Boss what is your plan to get those two together?"
Lory smirks, "Well the best way to get her into the same place as Ren is to have them star together in a movie…After one look at her in the studio he won't be able to keep his hands off her."
Kuu chuckles as he knows which role Lory was talking about since he already heard about it while Julie was beside him looking concerned but he speaks before she could. "Well then Boss it must be a sexy role for her if it would take one look for that guy to be under her spell."
"Well Kuu it is and I can see how they will interact…" Lory says hoping that when he announces the role to her that she will agree to it as Ren already agreed to the role he was asked to do even though all Ren knew was the leading lady was still in the decision faze but only since Kyoko wasn't in Japan at the time of casting.
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The clock rang midnight and Kyoko was pulled back into the party by the overly happy Maria, once inside she sees that Lory had the same thing going on as the year before then felt Maria tapping on her hand to get her attention. Kyoko looked down to the 9 year old girl beside her.
"Onee-sama, since today is now your birthday can you wear this? Please" Maria says holding up a tiara to Kyoko.
Kyoko smiles taking the tiara from Maria, "For you of course I'll wear it." She places it on her head.
Maria hugs Kyoko tightly, "Thank you." She says but then thought of something and looked up to Kyoko, "You aren't going to leave again Onee-sama, right?"
Kyoko puts her hand on the back of Maria's head and smiles down to her, "I won't leave Maria-chan, this is my home."
Maria hugs Kyoko tighter but then loosens and moves beside Kyoko when she heard people coming toward them.
Kyoko looks at the reason to why Maria moved to see Lory, Kuu, and Julie approaching them, she smiles.
"Well Happy Birthday Mogami-kun, you are now an official adult." Lory says then gets interrupted by Kuu.
"We all decided a perfect gift for a celebrity like you and that was to get you a condo for yourself." Kuu says.
Kyoko looked at her mother who was smiling and nods, she smiles. "Thank you very much," she says then hugs each of them as now she will have a permanent place to live.
But then she heard a noise of a man clearing his throat and turned her head to see it was Ren. "Hello, Tsuruga-san."
Ren wanted to correct her but he wouldn't with Lory and his parents standing right there, "Hello Mogami-san, that tiara really suits you."
Kyoko smiles as a little pink tinge forms on her cheeks, "Thank you."
He then hands her a bouquet of 6 roses which he gets a look from his father because he was giving Kyoko roses but he gives his father a smile that shows that he has something up his sleeve. "Happy Birthday Mogami-san."
Kyoko smiles and takes the roses, "Thank you." She says remembering last year that he did the same thing but it was with just one rose.
Before Ren could say a word Lory cuts in and hands Kyoko the keys to her new home, "Well Mogami-kun here are your keys to your new home and." He looks to Ren, "Ren can take you home since your condo is in the same building as him."
Before Kyoko could argue, Ren offered a hand to Kyoko. "It would be an honor to take this international star to her new home." He gives his gentleman smile to her and the others.
Kyoko smiles and takes his hand and goes with the act as she can tell Ren wanted to leave. "That's very nice of you Tsuruga-san." With that they both leave.
Kuu turns to Lory, "Boss how close are their condos to each other?" He asked suspiciously.
Lory smirks, "Oh just across from one another." He then chuckles.
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The way back to their building was quiet as Ren was driving and Kyoko was smelling her sweet roses.
When Ren parks in the underground parking lot he gets out first and goes to the other side of the car to help Kyoko out of the car. As they head up to the top floor Ren just wanted to pull her into his arms and never let her go but he knew he couldn't do that just yet.
When they get to the top floor Kyoko was confused as she knew Ren's place was on that floor, "Are we on the right floor Ren?" she asked the man beside her and liked how his name came out.
Ren smiles as she addressed him by his name without honorifics. "Yes, we are Kyoko. President Lory told me your new place is just across from mine." Ren enjoyed calling her by her first name as he wasn't allowed to when they were kids and when he used to try she would correct him.
Kyoko blushes slightly when he said her name. They continue down the hall towards their condo doors, once they reached Kyoko's door she grabs her key and opens the door to first see a little bit of the living room that had a black couch and nice dark burgundy end tables and a matching coffee table.
She turns her head slightly to the man behind her, "Would you like to come in?" she asked but had a feeling he would say no.
Ren wanted to spend more time with her but knew he shouldn't or he may not be able to control his want to hold and kiss her. "I'm sorry but I can't." He says.
Kyoko nods her understanding but she turns completely to face Ren, "well good night Ren." Kyoko decides to do what she wanted and deal with the consequences after her birthday so she takes one small step towards Ren and goes on her tippy toes slightly and kisses Ren on the cheek and before Ren could say a word she goes into her new home and closes the door and she leans her back against it, "I did it, I initiated a kiss even just one on the cheek outside of an act with that man," she thought to herself very happy with what she just accomplished.
Ren was speechless and put his hand on his cheek, "She kissed me…without practicing for an act or anything, maybe she does like me as I have always hoped." He thought to himself as he entered his apartment really happy about the event that just happened. However, he will need to control himself around her so he doesn't scare her away when she might have just started liking him more then a friend.
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Kyoko was exploring her new home seeing that all her stuff from Darumaya was in boxes that was placed in one of her two guest rooms as well as the master bedroom was nicely furnished with a queen size bed with lavender sheets and an amazing walk in closet that already had some of her clothes hanging and boxes on the floor which had more of her clothes and clothes she had from modeling shoots that the people gave to her as a thanks. The master bedroom has a nice bathroom that included a shower and a Jacuzzi which could be useful for those stressful days. Kyoko continued to explore her home to find a small cozy study with a laptop on the desk with a note saying it was a gift from the LME acting section, as she continues she ends up back in the living room area to notice a flat screen TV on the wall and as she keeps going around her condo and as she nears the dining room she noticed a door behind curtains as she moves it to see it lead to her balcony which had a great view of the city.
When she turns back to her dining room table she sees a large envelope beside the rose bouquet and vase she grabbed when she explored her kitchen earlier. Kyoko opens the envelope pulling out a decent size stack of photos, she looks through them and smiles. "Father and Boss must have been saving these for me." She thought to herself as she puts the photos which were photos from her modeling shoots, acting roles and magazine covers she was on back into the envelope for safe keeping. She knew she would frame them all and place them in her study so no one could say she has a big ego with a lot of pictures of herself.
The next thing Kyoko had to do was to put the beautiful roses in the vase of water. She opens the plastic that was holding the roses together but then after removing the plastic she sees that there was something shiny holding the roses together as well so she removes it and looks at it to see it was a diamond bracelet.
Kyoko smiles, "Oh Ren…you do enjoy hiding things in roses." She says to herself as she was referring to Princess Rosa the year before that he put in that rose. Just then something clicked in her head, "Would someone give something this valuable to just a friend? Or maybe just maybe he has feelings for me." She thought to herself as a blush appears on her cheeks as well as a smile.
After putting the roses in the vase she goes to her new bedroom to sleep as the next few days will be interesting as she needs to unpack then the following day meet with President Lory so she fell asleep that night thinking about the gift from Ren as well as the kiss she gave him.
